Section 17. Adjudication.

Any confiscation may be adjudged or costs may be ordered to be paid,-- (a) without any limit, by the principal civil court of original jurisdiction within the local limits of whose jurisdiction such confiscation has been made or costs have been ordered to be paid, as the case may be; (b) subject to such limits as may be specified by the Central Government in this behalf, by such other court, not below a civil court having pecuniary jurisdiction exceeding five thousand rupees, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, authorise in this behalf.